Tag: Plant Nutrition

Iron, an essential nutrient for plants and symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, needs to be complexed with organic chelators (i.e. citrate) for in planta transport. Kryvoruchko and colleagues have identified a nodule-specific citrate transporter of Medicago truncatula, MtMATE67 (Medicago truncatula Multidrug…

The application of nitrogen-containing fertilizers is crucial for good yields of crops like rice but also is energy intensive and polluting, so many approaches are being explored to develop plants that are more efficient in their uptake and use of nitrogen. Previous studies identified a crucial role…

Approaches to improve final grain production must consider yield stability, that is ways to prevent yield losses. For example, flowering time affects yield and yield stability-- if grains mature late, they may be literally caught out in the cold, as late-season weather turns. Indeed, the application…

Phosphate availability is one of the main limiting factors for plant growth. Similarly, zinc deficiency represents a threat for agriculture and children nutrition and there is a complex interaction between phosphate and zinc nutrition. Kisko et al. investigate the interaction of phosphate and zinc nutrition…

Partner selection is a critical step that must occur early during establishment of Root Nodule Symbiosis (RNS). RNS refers to the mutualistic interaction between legumes and some non-legumes with soil bacteria that help convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant usable ammonia. In legumes such as Medicago…

Yan et al. searched for proteins that regulate the delivery of the micronutrient copper to flowers to ensure successful reproduction https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00363 By Jiapei Yan, Ju-Chen Chia, and Olena Vatamaniuk Background: Global food security and the demand for high-yielding grain crops…

When grown at high density (HD), plants compete for nutrients, water and light. Guo and collaborators characterized Arabidopsis gene expression under two different growth densities: seeds sown at low density (LD), 10 cm apart and high density (HD), 2 cm apart. RNA sequencing analysis showed that only…

Manganese is a micronutrient essential for the function of several proteins including manganese superoxide dismutase (localized in the peroxisome and mitochondria) and the photosystem II reaction center (localized in the chloroplast). Mn is transported via NRAMP (Natural Resistance-Associated Macrophage…